Speech season opens at Kelly Walsh

Hot Springs County High School’s Speech and Debate team started their season with an excellent showing at the Kelly Walsh meet in Casper last weekend, coming home with a fourth place finish in 3A.

“I’m sure other coaches feel the same way,” said head coach Cindy Glasson, “that you’re not quite sure on that first outing that your team is ready. I have to say, these kids stepped up and proved they were more than ready.”

All students become varsity in speech and debate as of Jan. 1, so even the two newest members of the team, Lane Randall and Kris Lahoe, competed on the varsity level at their first meet.

The duet team of Ashley Brawley and Katie Burrows broke to semi-finals with their piece, “Airline Calamity,” just missing finals by two points.

“I see these girls going all the way with this piece,” Glasson said. “They have a chemistry with each other that allows them to play off each other very well.”

Sophomore Tyler Kay reprised his portrayal of Charlie Gordon from this year’s fall drama production of “Flowers for Algernon.”

Kay also broke into semi-finals, but just missed the final cut.

“Tyler (Kay) does this piece so well,” said Glasson. “Now we’re down to fine tuning for him. In the meantime, he’s also working on a Programmed Oral Interpretation (POI) and starting a humor piece as well.”

Burrows was doing double duty, also participating in humor along with her duet with Brawley this weekend.

“Katie (Burrows) brought home our only medal for the weekend,” Glasson said. “She earned a solid sixth place on Saturday, but I have no doubt, by the end of the season, she’s going to be the one to beat.”

In his first outing, Randall missed breaking into semi-finals in humor by just two places, coming in 14th overall. Semis include the top 12 in each event.

Brawley placed 19th in drama and the duet team of Courtney Juenehomme and Reilly Russell placed 18th overall.

“This was quite a weekend for everybody,” Glasson said. “There’s always a bit of nerves going into the first round of the first meet, but we had five first-place finishes after the first round and two second-place finishes.”

The team has this weekend off, but will be heading to Jackson for their tournament the following weekend, Jan. 26-27.